


Gold Goes Good with Green

by jdale



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Quidditch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-22 12:16:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22449484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdale/pseuds/jdale
Summary: Professor McGonagall’s assurance that your House would be your family was coming all too true for Elphaba Thropp. Most of her fellow Gryffindors held her in about as high regard as her father did—that is to say, they actively despised her.As Elphaba was about to find out, however, Hogwarts students are fickle creatures, and in Gryffindor especially, there’s one sure way to gain the acceptance of your House.
Relationships: Elphaba Thropp & Fiyero Tiggular
Kudos: 8





	Gold Goes Good with Green

“You ready?” Fiyero asked as they neared the end of the tunnel.

The only thing she was ready to do was vomit, but Elphaba nonetheless nodded silently, thinking back to how she had arrived at this moment…

* * *

_“Alright, I’ve gone over the notes I took during each of your tryouts, and I’m ready to announce my decision,” Fiyero told the assembled group. “Before I do, however, I would like to thank all of you for trying out. Please try to keep in mind that if you’re not selected, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad flyer. After all, I can only pick one of you.”_

_The hopefuls all murmured, some in acknowledgement of what he had said and the others just wishing he would get on with it._

_Fiyero took a deep breath before continuing, “Now, that being said, I’d like to congratulate the newest member of the Gryffindor quidditch team, Elphaba Thropp!”_

_There was no applause; instead, the rumblings of discontent started almost immediately, not only from among those who weren’t selected but also from the returning members of the team. Taking control of the situation, Fiyero cleared the unsuccessful applicants from the locker room and then addressed his team._

_“Look, do you want to win games or not?”_

_“What kind of a question is that?” Leon Brewer asked. “All we’re saying is we don’t need Greenie over there to do it.”_

_“I’m going to assume from that answer that yes, you do want to win games, which means you’re going to have to get it through your skulls that_ Elphaba _is our best shot at doing so,” Fiyero responded hotly, deliberately emphasizing his use of her real name. Stabbing a finger toward the entrance, he told them, “If you can’t accept that, the door is right there.”_

* * *

All five had marched right out the door and straight to McGonagall’s office, where they asked her if it was possible for the players on a House quidditch team to enact a no-confidence vote against the team captain. When McGonagall found out why they wanted to do so, she docked them each twenty points and assigned them a week’s detention with Filch. Their subsequent mass resignation had left Fiyero scrambling to schedule a second tryout and then to try to squeeze as many practices as they could into the few short weeks before the season opener.

So now here they were, about to face off against their arch-rivals with a team featuring Fiyero as the only returning player from last season and also the only one with any prior experience in competitive play.

The voice of the stadium announcer brought Elphaba back to reality. _“At keeper, the captain, number one, FIYERO TIGGULAR!”_

He flashed Elphaba a final smile before mounting his broom and exiting the tunnel.

_Well, this is it,_ Elphaba thought. _Too late for second-guessing._

_“And the seeker, number seven, ELPHABA THROPP!”_

Elphaba mounted her broom and took a deep breath; then, trusting that her instincts would take over once she was in the air, she closed her eyes and leaped.

* * *

With the match nearing forty minutes old, the snitch had yet to make an appearance. Elphaba had been taking the opportunity this presented to do everything in her power to disrupt the play of the Slytherin front five, but even so, Gryffindor still found themselves trailing by a hundred-point margin.

As she zoomed upward through the middle of the Slytherin chaser formation, she noticed that her opposite number had abandoned his high racetrack pattern and was now about five feet above the ground weaving in and out of the Gryffindor goalposts. Deducing that the snitch must have finally decided to show itself, she looped over the top and entered a steep inverted dive, continually adjusting her flightpath so that she would slot in ahead of her adversary when the time came to level off.

It wasn’t until several seconds into her dive that Elphaba was able to put eyes on the snitch herself, and when she did, it was further out in front of the Slytherin seeker than she had anticipated. She felt the tail of her broom trying to step out as she dipped her shoulder to veer toward where she now knew the snitch to be.

At the last possible moment, she rolled upright and pulled out of the dive, her left hand coming off the broom handle to reach out for the snitch as her tail twigs cleared the ground with inches to spare.

Then she felt a solid impact against her left palm, and her fingers involuntarily closed. When she looked down, she saw a rapidly beating pair of silver wings sticking out from either side of her fist. High above her, the shrill blast of Madam Hooch’s whistle signaled the end of the match.

Grinning broadly, Elphaba let out a war whoop and climbed back out to the altitude she had been at before the dive. As she flew past the Gryffindor stands, the snitch held aloft in her grip, she could hear the crowd chanting, “EL-PHA-BA! EL-PHA-BA! EL-PHA-BA!”

Despite herself, Elphaba laughed, great big belly laughs that made her sides hurt. She had no idea how long her Housemates would continue to think of her as the seeker who snatched victory from the jaws of yet another defeat at the hands of their most hated rivals instead of as a green-skinned monstrosity, but by Jove, she was going to enjoy every last minute of it.


End file.
